The Venice Commission met on 19 and 20
October at the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista in
Venice.

The Commission:

- proceeded to a preliminary
consideration of the comments on the Constitution of Bulgaria
and was informed on the evaluation of the Constitution of
Finland in view of its eventual revision;- was
briefed on the recent constitutional developments in
Kyrgyzstan, on the draft Constitution of Montenegro and on the
implementation of the new Constitution of Serbia.

Professor Ergun Özbudun, the chairman of the
academic commission drafting the new Constitution for
Turkey, informed the members of the Venice Commission on this
matter.

Mr René van
der Linden, President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe, Mr Jean-Louis Debré, President of
the Constitutional Council of France and Mr Ernst
Hirsch Ballin, Minister of Justice of the Netherlands,
addressed the Commission.

Latest publications

- Bulletin 2006/3

- Point of view - Point of Law Guantánamo:
violation of human rights and international law?-
Can excessive length of proceedings be remedied?
- Europeans and their rights - Freedom of
religion

The Commission
deeply regrets the loss of its President, Mr Antonio La
Pergola, who passed away on 18 July
2007

Constitutional
co-operation

New Constitution of
Montenegro

The Venice Commission
continued its assistance to the Parliament of
Montenego in the preparation of the new Constitution. A
draft constitution was submitted to Parliament in August
2007. The Commission's suggestions for improvement of
this text were discussed with the authorities and were
largely accepted. The new Constitution, which was
finally adopted on 19 October
2007 meets European standards in most
respects. An opinion on the new constitution will be
discussed by the Commission at its Plenary Session of
December 2007.

Freedom of expression and freedom of
beliefs

In
March 2007, the Venice Commission adopted a preliminary report on
blasphemy, religious insults and incitement to religious
hatred at the request of the Parliamentary Assembly
of the Council of Europe. The Commission considered that
criminal legislation was necessary but not sufficient to
avoid a clash between the fundamental right to freedom
of expression, on the one hand, and the equally
fundamental right to respect for one's beliefs on the
other hand. In order to
explore complementary non-legal means of addressing this
issue, the Venice Commission is organising in Athens, on
31 January - 1 February 2008, a round table on "Art and
Sacred Beliefs: from collision to coexistence", in
cooperation with the Hellenic League of Human Rights. In
a spirit of openness, tolerance and respect, the
participants - journalists, artists, publishers,
representatives of religions and cults, lawyers - will
be invited to provide examples of best practices they
may be aware of, and make practical suggestions for
overcoming constructively situations in which one right
might be at risk of being unduly limited by
another.

Constitutional
Justice

Within the framework of its 72nd Plenary Session in
October, the Venice Commission organised a fruitful
exchange of views on the limits of constitutional
control with the member courts of the Union of Arab
Constitutional Courts and Councils (UACC) - participating countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan,
Kuwait, Lebanon, Lybia, Mauritainia, Morocco, Palestine,
Sudan, Tunisia, Yemen.

Already since 1999, the Commission offers its
services not only to constitutional courts and
equivalent bodies in its member and observer states, but
also to regional groups of constitutional courts like
the Association of
Constitutional Courts using the French language
(ACCPUF) or the Southern African Judges
Commission (SAJC). The purpose of this co-operation
is to share the values of the Council of Europe
(democracy, protection of human rights and rule of law)
with these courts, entrusted with upholding these
values.

Strasbourg-The Venice Commission
organised the 4th European conference of
electoral management bodies on the subject: "Fighting
against electoral fraud - Complaints and appeals
procedures". Representatives of national authorities
responsible for elections and international and regional
organisations discussed issues as definition of
electoral offences, striking the balance between
administrative and criminal offences, distance voting,
ensuring the secrecy of vote, as well as sanctions and
proportionality principle. This event was attended by
about 130 specialists of electoral administration
bodies from four
continents.

Ukraine - Parliamentary elections -
30/09/2007

Kyiv - The Venice Commission
organised several activities on the occasion of the
parliamentary elections of 30 September 2007 . In
particular, it held a round table for judges of
ordinary and administrative courts on issues related to
complaints and appeals procedures during the elections,
in co-operation with the High Administrative Court of
Ukraine. The participants focused on possible
improvements in dealing with complaints and appeals
issues.